Splish splosh

Svenja has issued our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week - she's sending us splish sploshing around to cool off!

I made a sploshy background and added a fish for good measure on the watery front! The background is just Distress ink smooshed onto a piece of acetate, spritzed with water and dabbled onto the card base. I layered up the colours going from light to dark.

The fish is stuck down with the exception of the two little fins on his underside, I left those free for a tiny bit of dimension.

Stamps:
Under the Sea (Darkroom Door)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Ti Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch)

Other:
Copic markers
White Enamel Accents by Ranger
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by - hope the weather is manageable for you wherever you are.

Sunglasses weather

Miri's chosen the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and it’s a perfect one for the weather we’re having at the moment - feature (sun) glasses on your card!

I’m still revisiting old stamps - this little fella made his debut in 2010! He’s Copic coloured, cut out and popped up over the stencilled background. I gave him a grounding shadow, coated the die cut sentiment in some Enamel Accents for a glossy, dimensional look, rounded one corner and called it done (other than dropping it face down and having to fix the Enamel Accents, that is!). 

Stamps:
Cool Dudes I (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Jenni Bowlin by Ranger (Lemon Drops)

Other:
Copic markers
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Phrases dies (Spellbinder)
White enamel accents (Ranger)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Gnome for Christmas

There are plenty of Christmas in July challenges around at the moment - as I was lucky enough to win some stamps from Lost Coast in a recent challenge I thought I should try to play along with theirs using part of my prize! Although I haven’t played at Less is More in several years, I still check out the challenge every time so I’m going to link up there too!

I chose Pointy Hat Gnome as one of my prize stamps so I thought I should ink him up sooner rather than later and dress him in festive colours so he could play along. He's decided to go into the lucrative business of Christmas tree sales this year and is looking forward to the smell of fresh pine resin as people saw through the skinny trunk of thier chosen tree!

This is just simple stamping and masking, colouring with a few Copics and some little wiggles of dimensional pearl paint around the base of the sign and below his feet to suggest some snow - light and flat for easy postage!

ETA: just realised I left a strip of tape over the lower portion of the post after inking so if you’re seeing a slightly weird line down his mitten, imagine it gone now! I hand drew that bit of the sign as the original didn’t have a long enough stem so I couldn’t cut a mask from the stamped image for that bit. Funny how a it takes a photo to show up an imperfection sometimes!

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Bear Hugs and Vintage Winter Signage (both Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukinko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
Copic markers
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Corner Chomper

 

Link in the chain - June

Time for the June reveal at Card Chain Challenge - mine has gone to LaVon in Illinois this time. 

From the choices on offer this month, I chose the sketch, the colours and the theme of things that fly to put together a clean and simple design. I didn’t quite stick to my one layer principle for CCC cards as I did stamp the ballon separately, cut it out and pop it up on a bit of gel glue. The sentiment got similar treatment. The cloudy sky is created with ink applied with a blending brush over a torn edge. 

Stamps:
Past Times and Essential Messages (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Stonewashed)

Other:
Copic markers
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Sequins
Pinflair glue gel

There are still a few days to sign up for the next chain if you fancy it

July's elements

It's the first Friday of a new month so of course that means an "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers - just choose at least three elements from the picture to kick start your project.

Kathy has gathered supplies to make a lovely inspiration picture for us this month. From it I picked the Eiffel Tower, a daisy, washi tape, clear domes and the rich teal blue of the ribbon for a little collage of elements on a small card (this is 10.5cm square).

Stamps:
French Mail (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)
Build a Bouquet (Stampendous)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate, Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink (Peacock Feathers)

Other:
Copic markers

Glossy Accents
Washi tape
Corner Chomper

Here's the inspiration photo Kathy has put together for us this month, what inpsires you here?

In the garden

Nat has set our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week. As gardens and outdoor spaces became so important to so many people over the last year, she’d like to see us celebrating the garden.

My garden at the moment is a riot of flowers and foliage so I went down that route. I could also have opted for molehills but I figured that would make a less attractive card! Looking out of my lounge window, most of the flowers I can see are blue, hence the colour choice.

I’m playing again at Let’s Squash It where the current challenge is to combine a nature themed folder with a watercolour medium. I embossed my piece and then painted the raised areas and gave the background a very light wash of green, fading out to nothing in the middle.

Supplies:
Flower frame 3D folder (Nellie Snellen)
Watercolour paper
Winsor & Newton watercolours
Happy Stamp n Cut (Hero Arts)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)

Thanks for stopping by. 

Leafy greens

I was feeling a bit lacking in inspiration for a Father’s Day card and finally decided to kick start using a challenge. Let’s Squash It is currently challenging us to use a nature-themed folder along with some kind of watercolour medium so that was my starting point.

I used Memento markers and coloured directly on the folder, gave it a very light spritz with water and ran it through the machine. 

This is a lovely dramatic folder - it’s called “fallen leaves” which might suggest autumn but I thought using greens would give it a lush foliage feel more suited to summer. Dad's a careful gardener though, I don’t think his garden would ever look quite as unkempt as this might suggest!

Supplies:
Watercolour paper
Scraps of black cardstock and Bristol board
Versafine ink (Onyx Black)
Fallen Leaves 3D embossing folder (Sizzix)
Happy Stamp and Cut set (Hero Arts)
Memento markers (Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy, New Sprout)
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)

Time for a check up

Our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week is all about checks - backgrounds, accents, clothing patterns… there are lots of ways to add checks to your designs.

I opted for textured checks by using an embossing folder and went mixed media on this one. I rubbed a white crayon over the embossed piece (best done while it’s still on the folder as the support means you can press quite hard with the crayon) and then used a couple of Dylusions sprays. The crayon resists the spray but as you’ve generally got imperfect crayon coverage, you tend to get a nice slightly grungy effect.

The Party Puffin hasn’t been out to play for a while and I thought he’d be fun on the bright background. His crown and heart have some subtle sparkle courtesy of Spica glitter pens  

Stamps:
Party Puffin (Crafty Individuals)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black

Ink:
Brilliance (Graphite Black)

Other:
Dylusions sprays (Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime)
Checkerboard embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix - retired)
White crayon
Black fineliner
Spica glitter pens (gold and red)
Copic markers
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)

Thanks for stopping by!

Flag pole

Kathy has set the challenge for us at Daring Cardmakers this week and she'd like us to take inspiration from the flag of a country other than our own (we used this site for a guide to flags of the world).

I chose the flag of Estonia and in finding out a litte more about it, I discovered that the national bird is the barn swallow. I'm not sure mine is exactly the right type but it is a swallow so I thought it should see the light of day.

Representing a white stripe proved a bit difficult - I ended up doing a very, very light wash of colour underneath so hopefully the eye sees blue, black, white above the sentiment. The image is stamped on the card base and then again separately on Bristol and just the bird cut out and stuck on with gel glue for a bit of lift.

Maybe I was drawn to the Estonian flag because I've been listening to some Arvo Pärt recently (I'm in good company, he's apparently the most performed living composer). Spiegel im Speigel is just beautiful - if you have a few quiet minutes to spare, this version has the string part taken by cello rather than the more usual violin and I think it has a lovely, haunting almost hypnotic quality.

Stamps:
Joy (Carabelle Studio)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Watercolour
Scrap of Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Watercolors (Winsor & Newton)
Pearl pen by viva Decor (Ice White)
Copic markers
Pinflair glue gel

Thanks for stopping by!

June’s elements

It’s the first Friday of another month so our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week is an elemental one - choose at least three elements from Rizwana’s lovely summery mood board to inspire your project. 

I chose ice cream in a waffle cone, blue background inspired by the clear summer skies and script style sentiment. As my ice cream cone is a set dated 2016 I’m also playing at Retro Rubber where there’s an “anything goes” theme at the moment. 

I smooshed blue ink onto the card base with a piece of acetate, stamped a double cone and cut it out, then decided it really should be a triple and stamped the yellow blob and tucked that in behind. Then for good measure I did the green blob again, cut it out and used glue gel to stick it on so the whole shebang has some dimension. A few stamped dots extend the background out a bit. The layering stamps do a great job but I did add a tiny bit extra shading with a couple of Copics.

Stamps:
Color Layering Ice Cream (Hero Arts, 2016)
Birthday (Lettering Range by Ranger)
Dots from Believe in Unicorns (Visible Image, 2017)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Latte, Espresso)
Jenni Bowlin ink by Ranger (Lemon Drops)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Salty Ocean, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Bundled Sage, Mustard Seed)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
Pinflair glue gel
Wink of Stella pen (clear)
Copic markers 
White paint pen by Posca
Corner Chomper 

Here's our insipration pic this month - click through to see what my teamies were inspired to make!